The Metro Vancouver Retail Thread

[Vin]

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

Well no one, other than Vin, refers to Vancouver proper as the suburbs so that’s that. He can go on thinking what he wants, no matter how many people disagree, as per usual.

We’ve got countless threads filled with a variation on this already.

Lol. Keep denying it. Vancouver suburbs are suburbs, and that's a fact. So please tell me: where are the suburbs of Calgary or Edmonton, and how are they different from Vancouver's? How about Kelowna? If we have zero neighbouring cities around us, are you trying to say that Vancouver has no suburbs? You are not making any sense.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

I've heard Champlain heights referred to as the suburbs

From an academic point of view, considering that Champlain Heights are technically within Vancouver proper, perhaps they are not suburbs.
However, as they are mostly residential, with schools, parks, and some necessary shopping, they seem suburban enough in character to be called suburbs, IMO.
Champlain Heights of course are not central, nor really "midtown" so whether they are suburban or not seems up for debate, but my perception of them is that of suburbs.
Burnaby Heights .... is that a suburb? It is mostly SFR with a couple of high rise buildings (and good local shopping and eating) but it is not part of Vancouver: so isn't it a suburb?
I think it really depends on the density and character of an area to be able to categorize. Burnaby is technically a suburb, yet the town centres are dense, so what does that make them?
Defining what is a suburb of Vancouver and what is not seems problematic here, but surely there are some criteria that most people would agree on, but that's just an opinion, of course.

[bluefox]

Originally Posted by Vin

Lol. Keep denying it. Vancouver suburbs are suburbs, and that's a fact. So please tell me: where are the suburbs of Calgary or Edmonton, and how are they different from Vancouver's? How about Kelowna? If we have zero neighbouring cities around us, are you trying to say that Vancouver has no suburbs? You are not making any sense.

I have to agree with you, actually.

Compare us to cities in Australia and New Zealand, which have what we consider suburbs but also use the term "suburb" simply to describe neighbourhoods that surround the CBD but are still part of the main city.

Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland all do this, and those are just three examples.

The fact that we don't necessarily call Kerrisdale, Fraserview or Hastings-Sunrise suburbs doesn't mean they aren't. In many ways it just depends on who you're talking to.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by bluefox

I have to agree with you, actually.

Compare us to cities in Australia and New Zealand, which have what we consider suburbs but also use the term "suburb" simply to describe neighbourhoods that surround the CBD but are still part of the main city.

Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland all do this, and those are just three examples.

The fact that we don't necessarily call Kerrisdale, Fraserview or Hastings-Sunrise suburbs doesn't mean they aren't. In many ways it just depends on who you're talking to.

Are there sub-suburbs inside suburbs? That must be a thing.

[supercanuck]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

The very few Starbucks in Coquitlam are always packed, especially when they do their happy hour special, which is usually every thursday. They need more especially in the Lougheed Town Centre area. I don't drink the coffee and starbucks as the best chai of all the places I have tried.

I was saying the same to my wife the other day. There's a new one by the Superstore, but I feel like North Road and Lougheed needs at least one more Starbucks. We have so many bubble tea and Asian dessert places in the area now though.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by Vin

Deny it all you want, but to me any single family home neighbourhood belongs to the suburb. They don't call it a house with picket fences quaint and idyllic for nothing. A row of one to two-storey shops along the arterial still doesn't change that fact.

That's the definition of a suburb. Look it up.

Central Broadway could pass as "mid-town". but further south, like Shaughnessy is suburb central.

Source

White picket fence. Check.
Quaint and idyllic. Check.
Suburbs? Check.

Are we sure?

Street View
Map

[WarrenC12]

Can we move this garbage debate to another thread? Suburbs have a commonly held definition that everybody except the usual trolls seem to have trouble with.

[Denscity]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Are there sub-suburbs inside suburbs? That must be a thing.

Is Brentwood or Lougheed a suburb of Burnaby? Meaning Metrotown is "downtown"?

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by Denscity

Is Brentwood or Lougheed a suburb of Burnaby? Meaning Metrotown is "downtown"?

Separate town centers

[whatnext]

Wow, this kind of makes you wonder what the point of spending the money to build it was in the first place:

Vancouver-based outdoor equipment retailer MEC announced today that it plans to sublease its 112,000-square-foot head office on Great Northern Way, which it built for $28 million and moved into in late-2014.

The company has already started scouting the market for a new headquarters that will be about one-third the size and be somewhere in Metro Vancouver, CEO Phil Arrata told Business in Vancouver.

Arrata said that the sublease and new head office will save the company millions of dollars annually – “far less than 10 million, maybe a couple million.”...

https://biv.com/article/2020/01/mec-...gy-stem-losses

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Wow, this kind of makes you wonder what the point of spending the money to build it was in the first place:

Vancouver-based outdoor equipment retailer MEC announced today that it plans to sublease its 112,000-square-foot head office on Great Northern Way, which it built for $28 million and moved into in late-2014.

The company has already started scouting the market for a new headquarters that will be about one-third the size and be somewhere in Metro Vancouver, CEO Phil Arrata told Business in Vancouver.

Arrata said that the sublease and new head office will save the company millions of dollars annually – “far less than 10 million, maybe a couple million.”...

https://biv.com/article/2020/01/mec-...gy-stem-losses

MEC is in trouble. Kind of sad to see this happen but many saw it coming. I don't understand why they do not sublet part of the building and remain in part of it. Unless of course they have someone who wants the whole building...

Ron.

[WarrenC12]

Yikes. Their brand new flagship is set to open soon. Hope it helps them dig out of whatever mess they are in.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Wow, this kind of makes you wonder what the point of spending the money to build it was in the first place:
...
The company has already started scouting the market for a new headquarters that will be about one-third the size and be somewhere in Metro Vancouver, CEO Phil Arrata told Business in Vancouver.
...
https://biv.com/article/2020/01/mec-...gy-stem-losses

I remember when they moved in - the news articles showed massive expansive spaces that looked half empty.

So they are going back to a space the size of their old offices...

The $28 million, 112,000-square-foot complex at 1077 Great Northern Way near the VCC-Clark Skytrain station, was built to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum standard, which is the highest level possible in that U.S. Green Building Council-operated program.
...
All the while, hundreds of MEC staff worked out of a 43,000-square-foot site on West Fourth Avenue, where cubicles were piled high, hallways were narrow and obstacles hindered movement.

“We're really cramped for space,” MEC CEO David Labistour told Business in Vancouver in 2011 during a tour of that office.
...

https://biv.com/article/2014/10/moun...alse-creek-fla

Meanwhile, MEC's building is far too small for Lululemon which will have 593,400 sq. ft. of space.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Yikes. Their brand new flagship is set to open soon. Hope it helps them dig out of whatever mess they are in.

I don't think that location in OV will help improve their situation.

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Source

White picket fence. Check.
Quaint and idyllic. Check.
Suburbs? Check.

Are we sure?

Street View
Map

Absolutely, Mole Hill used to be the suburb of Vancouver when the city centre was congregated aroud Gastown and Hastings neighbourhood. Of course we have since expanded. The current heritage portion of Mole Hill is preserved: showcasing the original "suburb" of Vancouver, although it is part of downtown today. To suggest that this is a "suburb" today when you very well know that it is such a small area surrounded by a dense urban fabric is just plain dumb.

Originally Posted by bluefox

I have to agree with you, actually.

Compare us to cities in Australia and New Zealand, which have what we consider suburbs but also use the term "suburb" simply to describe neighbourhoods that surround the CBD but are still part of the main city.

Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland all do this, and those are just three examples.

The fact that we don't necessarily call Kerrisdale, Fraserview or Hastings-Sunrise suburbs doesn't mean they aren't. In many ways it just depends on who you're talking to.

Exactly! We are just dealing with the egocentric folks who can't come to terms with themselves living in the burbs.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Vin

I don't think that location in OV will help improve their situation.

Absolutely, Mole Hill used to be the suburb of Vancouver when the city centre was congregated aroud Gastown and Hastings neighbourhood. Of course we have since expanded. The current heritage portion of Mole Hill is preserved: showcasing the original "suburb" of Vancouver, although it is part of downtown today. To suggest that this is a "suburb" today when wou very well know that it is such a small area surrounded by a dense urban fabric is just plain dumb.

Exactly! We are just dealing with the egocentric folks who can't come to terms with themselves living in the burbs.

[s211]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I remember when they moved in - the news articles showed massive expansive spaces that looked half empty.

So they are going back to a space the size of their old offices...

That development was such an ego play, particularly for a tax-free co-op.

[s211]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Wow, this kind of makes you wonder what the point of spending the money to build it was in the first place:

My recollection is that they pocketed far in excess of cost when they sold the new building.

[red-paladin]

Let's keep the thread on track and not get back into the 'what's a suburb' debate again.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by s211

That development was such an ego play, particularly for a tax-free co-op.

Lululemon may be the next ego play on GNW?

The first large single tenant complex built on the GNW strip was for QLT.
Then MEC.
Now Lululemon.

[WarrenC12]

How much space does Lulu have around town today? Part of the problem they are solving is consolidating a bunch of diverse locations.

Did MEC not configure the building to be able to take a few floors themselves and sublease the rest? That would seem to be the most practical design.